Puri: Authorities have apprehended two individuals from Madhya Pradesh for purportedly blackmailing a 24-year-old woman from Puri, Odisha. They threatened to disseminate her private explicit videos, leading to an extortion of an astonishing Rs 19.50 lakh over several months.

The suspects have been identified as Satendra Sharma, 29, from Gwalior district, and Atul Kaurav, 19, from Bhind district. Police investigations revealed that part of the extorted money was found in Kaurav’s bank account.

The victim, residing with her family in a rented accommodation in Puri, initially connected with Sharma via social media in February of this year. Although they never met in person, their online relationship became intimate. Police reported that Sharma secretly recorded explicit videos of the woman during their video chats, which he later used to blackmail her.

Under significant emotional pressure, the victim, whose father operates a shop in Puri, resorted to extreme measures to fulfill the demands of her blackmailers. She mortgaged her mother’s jewelry and took loans from relatives. Over the past six months, she transferred a total of Rs 19.5 lakh to various bank accounts provided by the accused.

The situation escalated when Sharma allegedly sent one of the explicit videos to the victim’s mother while demanding an additional Rs 2 lakh. He further threatened to harm her parents and to make the video public if the payment was not received. Desperate, the woman finally approached the Cyber Crime and Economic Offences police station in Puri, where she filed a complaint.

A case was registered, and investigators followed the money trail, leading them to Kaurav. Subsequently, a police team traveled to Madhya Pradesh, where they successfully arrested both suspects in Gwalior.